WARNING: This is a full breakdown of my thoughts on the show. While I will try to avoid spoilers, I make no promises. I also make no promises that this will be short.
I know… I am indeed a fashion-forward snow lover. Be jealous.
We’re going on snow day #3 here (got the call that school is cancelled again tomorrow), and I’m starting to get cabin fever. Enter….Vampire Diaries.
I got the first disc of season 1 in the mail the other day from Netflix (pre-snow) and I couldn’t even wait for the next disc. I had to go to Hastings and grab the next 4. Thankfully, we’ve had these snow days, because otherwise I’d be getting no sleep. At least I’ve had eye candy to drool over. Let’s just discuss the show for a bit.
Plot
Vampires, humans, high school…hijinks ensue. If you haven’t seen the show, you’ll be happy to note that they do not in fact, sparkle. The VD (I sort of hate abbreviating it that way, because I don’t want people to think I’m talking about syphilis) vamps are somewhere between the dark, brooding, blood thirsty vampires of Anne Rice fame and the sparkly, vegetarian, pretty-boy vampires that Stephanie Meyer created. I like that. It’s the best of both worlds.
Let’s discuss the high school issue for a minute, though. My high school was NOTHING like Mystic Falls. For one, the boys at my school did NOT look like the boys at MF. No offense to my husband (we were h.s. sweethearts), but man. Second, there was high school drinking of course, but the MF teens are bordering on alcoholism. It looks a lot more like my college years than h.s. Maybe if I had drank more in h.s. the boys would have looked better. 
And lastly, the money. Wow! Everyone in this school must be loaded. They are quite the fashionistas and drive nice vehicles. Oh well, I guess it is a fantasy.
The Acting
The acting in this show is surprisingly good. Most of the characters started out as relatively unknown (aside from Ian’s stint on Lost and Nina’s time on Degrassi). You’d think there’d be a lot more cringeworthy moments, but I’ve been surprisingly pleased. The casting in this was great in my opinion, because the actors pull of the relationships and connections flawlessly. Well done, casting director, well done.
The Characters
1) Elena Gilbert
I like Elena. She’s spunky and witty. She loves intensely and fights for those that she loves. She’s in love with a vampire, but she’s not willing to sacrifice the others in her life for that relationship like other human girlfriends *cough*Bella*cough*. Plus, she’s hot. She’s not blonde, anorexic, sorority-girl hot, either. She’s a brunette and while I definitely don’t look like her, she gives us average girls everywhere some hope.
2) Stephan Salvatore
Maybe I’m a sucker for the good guy, but Stefan can bite me any day. Any guy who looks like that with his shirt off (I searched for a good picture to show you, but came up fruitless) can hold me captive any day, vampire or not.
Oh, and don’t even get me started on the episode where he cries. I died.
3) Damon Salvatore
I don’t care one tiny shred of a bit that Damon is such an ass. He’s hilarious, fierce, and don’t get me started on those eyes. Wow. I wonder if Ian Somerhalder has ever tried to use those eyes to compell others in real life. Something tells me it’s not just his vampy ability that makes him able to talk girls into doing his naughty bidding. I know I should hate Damon’s character, but I just can’t.
I’ll have to leave the cast list at that for now. Perhaps I’ll do a more thorough commentary on the rest of the cast later. This post is getting long as it is.
One thing that made me happy about this series: it was in the making long before Twilight. Of course, I have mad Twilight love, but I really hate that we’ve seen such an influx of vampire stuff since then. I feel like it gives vampires a bad name, and I hate that. The VD was based on a book series by L. J. Smith and was originally published in 1991. Not only is it great, but it’s a throwback!
::runs off to drool over angsty teen vampire drama::
